Alessia Zellweger, doctoral psychologist at the Haute école de santé Vaud (HESAV) and the Institut romand de santé au travail (IST)

I did all my schooling in Ticino, then came to the University of Lausanne to do a Bachelor's degree in psychology and then a Master's degree in health psychology and psychosociology. I initially hesitated to do the Master's degree in occupational and organisational psychology at the University of Neuchâtel, because I was very interested in the issue of health in the workplace. But I preferred to look at health in the broadest sense. I did my credited Masters placement at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) in the Intensive Care Unit. Alongside this placement, I wrote my dissertation, which looked at the experiences of medical staff (doctors and nurses) in relation to the procedure of organ retrieval when the patient's heart has stopped (an intervention following a decision to withdraw treatment). I was then hired as a research assistant in the same department. Still on the subject of organ donation, I carried out a quantitative survey using a questionnaire, and a qualitative one involving several focus groups with healthcare staff at the HUG, the CHUV and a clinic in Ticino. With the agreement of my managers at the HUG, I decided to take further training: the MAS in health psychology organised by the universities of Lausanne, Fribourg and Geneva. I'm currently writing my final dissertation on the subject of protecting pregnant women at work. I interviewed hospital nurses in French-speaking Switzerland who had become pregnant during the course of their employment, to understand their perceptions of occupational risks, their experience of current protective measures and the way in which they adopt - or fail to adopt - these measures in the workplace. A year ago, I started a dissertation on the subject of pregnancy protection at work. My thesis is part of a wider research project funded by the Fond National de Recherche Scientifique (FNS). The aim of the study is to take stock of the application of legal provisions on maternity protection in companies in two sectors (healthcare and the food industry) and by gynaecologists and midwives in French-speaking Switzerland. The aim is to identify the obstacles and resources involved in implementing these provisions, and to assess how closely they match the needs on the ground, as well as the perceptions of the workers concerned. I'm working on this research project between the Haute école de santé Vaud (HESAV ) and the Institut romand de santé au travail (IST ). Our multidisciplinary research team (psychologist, midwife and occupational health physicians) is made up of six people divided between these two institutions.

During the Master's credit course, we were given a list of institutions offering placements. Unfortunately, none of the institutions on the list particularly interested me. That's why I did my own research and was able to join the HUG. So I think it's important to have a more or less long-term vision of the field in which you want to enter professionally, and, already at Master's level, to move in that direction by trying to contact the right employers and offer your services, particularly through an internship. Of course, there's a big element of luck involved! At the HUG, for example, the intensive care unit was looking for a trainee.

Health psychology is still very little known and little represented in Switzerland, so few jobs require such training for professional positions. But I think that's about to change, especially as there are a number of areas in which a health psychologist could be useful. For example, when a patient's next of kin is told that he or she has died, some institutions offer support for children by talking to a child psychologist, and possibly referring their adult relatives for psychotherapeutic treatment. In this case, a health psychologist could provide immediate and rapid support in the hours following the event for the patient's family and friends, as well as for the nursing staff. I can think of three ways in which a health psychologist could intervene in this context: with the people around the patient, with the patient and with the nursing staff. That's why health psychologists need to be proactive in promoting their skills, and why not offer services that don't yet exist.

Positions as scientific collaborators or doctoral candidates are sometimes available. As the field of health psychology is not well known, research is a good way of making the discipline better known, but also of gaining experience in the field. There is an increasing amount of research with a very applied and pragmatic orientation, which aims to reduce or at least reveal the gap between theory and reality in the field. This is particularly true of action research and research into health promotion. This involves contact with different institutions, healthcare staff, patients and vulnerable groups, which also helps you to develop your professional network!